He didn't pick up the phone
by Aimwolf
Summary: What happened?
1. Niles 1

Blood. It was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. A puddle of blood, thick sticky blood. The word kept repeating in his head, not really having a meaning to it.

An awful pain feeling like a thousand knives in his body shot through him and he moaned. What the hell happened. Where was he? When trying to look up ,he saw that he was lying on the stairs by the kitchen. Still in the mansion at least.

The family! Where were they? Oh god, what if they were in danger or worse? No, that could be happening! Please no… Niles tried to get up, but dropped back on the stairs, too weakened. A thought, hidden deep inside his head, came forwards. Weekend away for…something. They were away, he was alone here. Good. They were save.

Great, then he could at least die in peace… Blackness came back and seemed to agree with his last thought.


	2. Phones

Maxwell plunged the phone back on the reciever, annoyed by his butler for not picking up the phone. What was that man doing? Now he sounded like Fran just sounded, worried about nothing. She had called him and they had a short conversation over the phone.

Even the kids had say their goodbyes to the butler before heading to bed in their own rooms. Fran and Niles had been talking for a hour, much to Maxwell annoyance, when Niles had suddenly hang up.

His wife had tried to call back, but no succes. Then the worries came and she became hysterical. She kept screaming so hard about her best friend being wounded or dead, that Maxwell had screamed against her, annoyed by her voice piercing trough the room. It helped, but then she was sobbing.

Lucky enough Maggie and Gracie came in, of course alarmed by the sounds from their parents room. Maxwell had taken his change and had send Fran with them, telling her that they needed their mother in this hard time. It helped and the girls took Fran with them, asking what was going on.

Brighton came not soon after, but he stayed with his father. Maxwell had explained him what happened and the boy shook his head about his mother. Both not being able to sleep, they decided to play some cards, just until Fran came back.

During the game his father had looked to the phone so much that Brighton became tired of it and told his old man to call Niles again, if he was so worried. Not a good idea, or maybe well?

Everyone was in the room now, looking in suspence to the phone. None of them had dared to call a third time, afraid to fail again. This was ridicilous, Max thought by himself. The old man was just sleeping, nothing was wrong. Yet, then why didn't he believe it himself.

He reached out for the phone one last time and wanted to dial Niles private number when he got an idea. After giving it some thought, he dialed the number of his business partner. After a short time a tired woman voice answered the call.

C.C was not really happy to be called awake at 1 a.m and she hoped for him that her wake-up caller had a damn good reason to call her on this hour. First she thought that it might be Niles, playing a prank on her, but much to her suprise Maxwell's voice was on the other side of the line.

"C.C, sorry for calling so late" he excused himself, C.C just left out a snort, too tired to go in him. He sounded worried, she noticed.

"What's the deal?"

"We can't contact Niles and Fran is afraid that something is wrong"

C.C did not know if she wanted to laugh or be angry at them for such a stupid. It was midnight, for heaven's shake, of course Niles wasn't reachable, he was asleep in his dogbasket. Hey, good one.

"Maxwell, it's 1 a.m, ever heard of sleeping? I'm sure Niles does that" she explained slowly to her not all too bright business partner. "A lot" she added quickly after with her sultry laugh. It went silent on the other side and she knew that Maxwell was thinking.

"Please, call him, go the mansion. For me?" alright, he really sounded worried now. Uurgh, she was too good for this world sometimes.

"Alright, I will see what I can do and contact you later" with that she hang up. For a moment she thought abouf going to sleep again, but then Maxwell won't be happy with her. With a sigh she took the phone again and dialed Niles private number. Nothing.

Alright, he was just sleeping very deep. It won't suprise her if he was laying in his boss bed, typical something for him. There was nothing wrong.


	3. Niles2

He heard a phone ring, somewhere far away. He was sure that it wasn't the first time. Slowly hd opened his eyes again and tried to remember once again what happened. Stairs, lot of blood. Why wasn't he dead yet? How long would it take for him to die? The pain became really unbearable now he was awake again. He would love to make it stop. Please.

Maybe he just needed to try again. Trembling he stood up, trying to get a hold on the railing, but with only one step he discovered that his leg wasn't working and so he fell again. Now lying half on the cold floor. Please, make it stop.

 _Niles was humming Edelweiss while holding a glass with Mr. Sheffield best brandy. A sigar was already laying ready on the side table, so he plopped on the couch and reached for the remote control. Home alone, as long as he cleaned it up, he could do whatever he wanted. Hell, he could even give a party. If he had friends…_

 _Spanish voices had filled the house, like tears had filled his eyes. God, he really needed to stop watching those series. Wasn't his own life enough of a drama already? As much as he hated it, he had to admit that mister Boobcock right was about his pathetic position in life. It was getting late already and even though he could sleep in for once, he still decided to head to bed. When the phone rang. Mrs. Sheffield was on the other side._

 _A long talk had passed and Niles wanted to complete the call when a sound made him look up._


	4. Worries

C.C didn't call again or back to the Sheffield family at their luxurious resort. Instead, she tried to force all of the bad thoughts in her brain away. First she was sure that nothing was wrong, but as silence filled the air only more and every sound seemed to disappear around her, the bad thoughts only became worse. Until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Damn it". She stood up and dressed in jogging pants with a simple t-shirt. With her glasses half on and still open shoes she locked the door, leaving Chester behind and went downstairs to get a taxi and to go to the mansion. She was going to kill that damn butler for this.

Later they arrived, she gave the driver way too much money in her rush and left the car with a very happy man behind. The first thing that suprised her was the fact that light was still burning in the house. She had her key with her, but she had a feeling she didn't need it. C.C opened the front door of the mansion, which was, indeed, still unlocked and gasped when seeing the inside.

A mess, a big mess. Stuff was clearly missing and there was glass laying on the ground, as well as pillows, papers and what more. The mansion had been robbed again. C.C wanted to take her cellphine, she lucky enough had brought with her, when she rememberd why she came here in the first place. Niles!

Where was he? Not in the livingroom. She ran towards the kitchen, used to find him there. First she didn't saw him, but when walking around the counter she did. Her heart seemed to stop for a long moment and her legs became heavy. God no.


End file.
